Original subtitles

- Oh, Shinaz. You're pulling my leg. - No.

I think you are. It's impossible.

Look. We can ask Ahmed.

Hello.

You see, Mr Perron,

there is the reason Why Sarah couldn't join us tonight at dinner.

She understands my scheming.

One day, I hope, Ahmed and Shinaz Will fall in love.

I have long planned this.

An alliance betWeen the son of Mohammed Ali Kasim,

the political Kasims of Ranpur,

and the princely Kasims of Mirat - a royal Wedding.

The illuminations, I fear, are not of my devising.

Muslims and Hindus in the city are burning one another's shops.

The fishermen Will not go out tomorroW on the lzzat Bagh Lake.

The NaWab Sahib Will say,

"Dimitri, What have you done? What have I signed aWay?"

Shall We go in?

Perhaps I should take the train With you tomorroW, Mr Perron, and fly to England.

With independence only nine days aWay, We shall all be �migr�s noW.

- Would you like some brandy? - Thank you.

Hosain.

Before the War, there Was almost no civil disturbance in Mirat.

It's different noW.

You knoW, Ahmed Was attacked and beaten one night in the bazaar.

No, I didn't knoW that.

Thank you.

Fortunately, he Wasn't seriously hurt.

People have become affected by What Congress is saying, the Muslim League,

in Delhi, Calcutta, Bombay.

Thank you, Hosain.

On your last night With us, a little drink to Mirat.

- And to the future. - Ah, yes. The future.

Those fires are ominous.

In the past 18 months, Whenever trouble threatened,

I Was comforted to think that Colonel Merrick Was coping With it.

Tonight, I miss him.

So, perhaps, do the police.

One feels a bit like Nero, Without the fiddle.

You knoW, Merrick had certain qualities, Mr Perron.

I saW only the bad side, I'm afraid.

That I think is because, in spite of your interest in the past,

you are a man of the present.

He Was, Without question, a man of the past. That Was his strength.

He treated the troubles here as just a silly quarrel betWeen naughty children.

Nanny knoWs best. It is the spirit of the Raj -

preserves the British from destruction even today.

I gather from Nigel that you have an idea

that Merrick's killing Was intended to aggravate racial tension.

Yes.

Not everyone feels the British have earned the immunity

you all seem to be currently enjoying.

But if it is the last thing I do in Mirat,

I shall ensure that this immunity continues.

Even if it means suppressing evidence.

Do you disapprove?

A little.

So do I.

But just think What might be happening out there if We had shouted murder.

There is also the distress Susan Would have been caused by an investigation.

It's a good thing in her state of health

that she doesn't knoW in What strange and unsavoury circumstances he died.

- Strange and unsavoury? - I don't mean just the manner of death.

I mean the tendencies in him Which led him to it.

I see. Do his spies come into this?

- Who mentioned spies to you? - Susan.

She also mentioned the Indian clothes, his disguise.

Mr Perron, he had no spies.

Nobody ever goes out in those clothes. These Were mere bits of play acting.

It Was he himself Who Was observed.

By Khansamar. He Was a good steWard.

He kept me Well-informed. But I Wish he'd been more on his guard.

By the time he realised the nature of Merrick's visit, it Was too late.

Susan mentioned the boys Who come looking for jobs.

Khansamar sent them aWay. She Would have seen that While she Was here.

But When she returned to Pankot, other boys came,

one especially persistent.

'Day after day.'

Khansamar?

Who is this boy?

Aziz. Every day he's coming, every day I send aWay.

But he's telling me he's noWhere to go.

There's plenty to do. Let him help the mali cut the grass.

If he Works Well, he can stay.

Aziz...

'So the boy stayed. He helped the mali.

'He Worked in the house and he Worked hard.

'Khansamar saW nothing to discredit him

'until one morning When he rose soon after daWn,

'and saW Aziz coming out from the back door of the house.

'Well, he had seen the Pathan clothes before.

'Colonel sahib sometimes Wore them When he Was alone.

'He is at heart a Pathan, Khansamar thought, and Aziz is a fine, sturdy boy.

'Lt may be none of my business.

'Yet there Was something strange

'Which perhaps unconsciously had puzzled him before.

'Since Aziz had come, no other boys had called looking for jobs.

'NoW at night, sometimes he couldn't sleep.

'Whenever he looked in the hut Where the boy should be, it Was empty.

'Until this one night.

'Aziz had returned.

'But he Was not in bed.

"'Where have you been?" Khansamar asked him.

"'Ln the bazaar," Aziz told him, "With a girl."

"'What happened? Did her husband find you With her?

'But Khansamar thought, "It is not a jealous husband Who has done this."'

'That morning, he took Colonel sahib's chota hazri to his room.

'And at that moment, Khansamar conceived for Merrick a dislike.

'Not a violent hatred but a cold contempt.'

And, of course, he Wondered.

Why should a boy like Aziz submit quietly to that kind of treatment?

- Do you Wonder, Mr Perron? - Tell me Why you don't.

I think it is clear he had been so instructed -

to submit, Whatever Merrick did.

Instructed by Whom?

Pandit Baba, possibly.

In the event, he Was sent packing.

Merrick told Khansamar there Was no more Work for Aziz to do.

But very soon, once more, the boys appeared at the gate.

Sometimes tWo together, and sometimes one Was alloWed to stay.

Why, do you imgaine? What Was in Merrick's mind?

Did he see no connection betWeen this and the older forms of persecution,

the stone and the snake?

He believed another stone Was throWn, you knoW -

so he told Sarah the day he fell from his horse.

Sarah Was there at the time of the accident?

'With Ahmed.

'They'd gone out riding. Merrick had folloWed hoping to see some haWking.

'He'd often tried to scrounge an invitation

'but Ahmed alWays made excuses.'

I thought you Were haWking today. Where's the falcon?

Sorry. She's not very Well. She's off her food.

Is she? Again?

- Shall We ride, then? - If you Want.

Kasim, I'll race you across the nullah.

Come on.

Ronnie!

Are you all right? What happened?

- Didn't you see him? - Who?

The blighter Who Was crouching in the nullah -

he must have startled the horse.

He stood up and threW a stone.

- You must have seen him, one of you! - Who?

Ronnie thinks someone Was hiding.

He startled the horse.

- There Was no-one. - He got aWay, then. I tell you!

I saW him.

He must have got aWay.

'Ahmed and Sarah decided to say nothing.

'Both of them felt he Wanted to make trouble, to create an incident.'

I'm With him noW.

TomorroW, then. Goodbye.

Well? What did she say?

She'll bring a Jeep at seven in the morning.

- She's not sure Ahmed Will be haWking. - Ha! What excuse this time?

Sarah's not keen on the idea. She doubts Dr Habibullah Would let you go out.

Damn Habibullah.

But if you don't attempt anything too foolish, Sarah Will pick you up.

You'll have to be content With that.

I'll be content, then.

Is there anything else you Want?

- Khansamar Will see to it if I do. - I'll say goodnight, then.

Thanks, Nigel.

You knoW...

What We Were speaking of,

What one should do after independence?

I shan't go home.

I shall stay on.

I'd like to settle someWhere, like PeshaWar,

someWhere they don't do things by the book,

off-the-cuff decisions.

- That's Where I'm best. - Yes. I knoW that.

I'll see you tomorroW then.

'Lt Was the last time he Was seen alive.

'And I think, yes, I believe, he Wanted it, Waited for his death.

'I believe, though you may not, that Aziz Was the first young man,

'perhaps the only man, he had actually made love to

'and that this gave him a profound moment of peace.

'And in the next moment, something he could not bear.

'Not the revelation of his homosexuality, his sadomasochism -

'these he must have sensed before.

'What Was destroyed Was the belief in his racial superiority.

'That's Why he Wanted there to be a man in the nullah, a stone that Was throWn.

'He Wanted What happened to happen.

'Perhaps he hoped that his murder Would be avenged

'in some splendidly spectacular Way,

'a kind of Wagnerian climax.

'The Raj emerging from the tWililght and sWeeping doWn from the hills

'With flaming sWords.

Bibighar scraWled across his mirror,

With the stuff he used to paint his face.

The Bibighar in Mayapore.

Scene of the rape.

And he had been strangled With his sash.

A curious feature, Wouldn't you agree?

Yes, I'll come.

Mr Perron, forgive me.

- NaWab Sahib? - He has seen the fires in the city.

- It is a summons I cannot disobey. - Of course.

I Will come to the station in the morning to see you off

and to say goodbye as Well to Sarah and Ahmed.

We shall have a lonely Independence Day in Mirat.

- I shall think of you in Delhi. - But still I Wonder.

About that sash. So many mysteries.

But Dr Habibullah is convinced of this -

that he Was strangled first and then mutilated.

So a ritual killing, but When they came to it, they Were mercifully quick.

Compassionate, even.

But Would Merrick have Wanted that?

I think not. Justice he understood. Compassion, never.

I hadn't thought We'd be quite so large a party.

I expect We shall all fit in easily enough, Mrs Peabody.

- The trunk's coming in, Reginald. - All right, dear.

Well, I don't knoW about fitting in easily.

- But if there are only six of us. - Eight.

- We'd better have the guns noW. - There's the tiffin box.

- I think the guns first. - As you Wish, Reginald.

Eight? HoW do you make eight?

Eight and a half, if you include me and the little boy.

- One includes you both. - Of course.

- Righto, Laura. Tiffin box noW. - Coolie.

I still make it six and a half, not that mathematics Were ever my strong point.

I hope the upper berths are let doWn. They'll need those to stoW their things.

I have a feeling that at least tWo members of the Raj

aren't going to leave Without standing by their old rights.

It's the Peabodys.

There may be a fuss about Ahmed and I in a first-class compartment.

They'd better start getting used to it.

- He's only a major. - Shall I start stoWing our luggage?

You mean they've finished?

Ah. Um...

You'd better put that there.

Goodbye, my dear. Don't be too long before coming back.

Goodbye, Dimitri.

Here, boy.

Remember me to your father.

Tell him We need you here after the independence celebrations.

Ten days is the most I can alloW.

- I'll Write to you from England, Nigel. - Do. And have a good journey.

Must We travel With those awful Peabodys?

The compartment's like a luggage van.

It's all right, Aunt Fenny. Mr Perron's got everything in.

- Thank you for coming to Mirat. - You gave me a lot of your time.

Oh, my pleasure. Here's a little token of your visit.

The poems of Gaffur. I have attempted a poor translation.

Thank you. Thank you very much.

Mrs Merrick, there's room for your tiffin basket on top of ours.

- Please, don't Worry. - Is your ayah's compartment close?

Oh, very close. In fact, here. Ayah Will sit With me and help me With EdWard.

- I Want to Wave from the WindoW. - OK, but let the troops on first.

Reginald, let me sit at the other end. It is a little close here.

Oh, all right, dear. Are you sure about the basket? I can put it on the berth.

Absolutely sure, Major Peabody.

Excuse me.

Come on, ayah. (Speaks Hindi)

- Goodbye. - Don't forget, sit on the cool side.

- Goodbye, Dimitri, Uncle Nigel. - Goodbye.

- See you again, old chap. - Au revoir.

The poems are 18th century Urdu.

The Gaffur Was an ancestor of NaWab Sahib's.

A memento.

Bye, darling. Bye.

Come and sit here, Guy.

Thanks.

Bang!

Are you really sure about the basket, Mrs Merrick?

Couldn't your ayah look after it?

Try to get her to shut up about the basket. It's the urn.

Susan Won't let anyone else touch it.

Bang!

Bang!

Bang!

The basket contains Colonel Merrick's ashes.

All right?

Bang!

Do you hunt, Mr Perron? I like a day out for the hounds or With the guns.

We hope to get in a feW days at Bharatpur before going home.

- You've been to Bharatpur, I suppose? - No.

Oh, you should. Oh, What's your regiment?

I'm afraid I don't have a regiment. I served as a private during the War.

Oh. Then you're a civilian.

Reggie Was awfully tempted to stay on and go into pharmaceuticals.

One of the feW things one can do for this country is help them fight disease.

- And poverty. - I sometimes think that's exaggerated.

Most of the Indians one knoWs could buy one up lock, stock and barrel.

There are the ones one doesn't knoW.

In the villages, Mr Perron, every peasant Woman has her gold bangles.

No, no. It isn't the poverty. It's the disease, the superstition, the inertia.

Bang!

(Whistle bloWs, brakes squeal)

Reggie, see What you can see. There's nothing on this side. Probably a coW.

- I remember a coW on the line. - Yes, I remember.

I remember the train stopping

and Daddy saying What Mrs Peabody said - "Probably a coW on the line."

- Where Was it? - BetWeen Ranpur and Delhi, 190.

Ranpur and Delhi. Oh, there's so much poetry in Indian names.

Ronnie used to say that. Where's your home at home, Mrs Peabody?

Northamptonshire, outside Norby.

Norby. That's What I mean.

Mother's found a house at Epsom.

Sounds like an aperient.

Pull doWn the shutters and close the WindoWs on your side, please.

- Mrs Grace, please, on yours. - What's Wrong, Ahmed?

- What is it? - Just some silly people.

What are you doing, baking us alive or something?

- Hope you don't mind. - Yes, I do mind.

For heaven's sake. It's hot enough in here.

Come and play hide and seek.

Look, EdWard. Ayah's hiding.

- I don't Want to play. It's silly. - No, it isn't. Help ayah hide.

- Pretend bad people are looking for her. - NoW, look here, Kasim.

It's only a game, OK? Ayah is pretending to hide from bad people.

Major Peabody, Would you take ayah's seat so no-one can see her?

- Take the boy, Sarah. - Reggie, What are you doing?

What's anyone doing? Must be some damn silly demonstration.

What are they doing? What do they Want?

Kasim! Kasim!

Kasim sahib. Come out!

Kasim! Kasim!

Do We have to break in? Come noW, sirs, ladies.

Come, Kasim! Come!

It seems to be me they Want. Be ready to lock the door.

- What? - Kasim! Kasim!

Sorry to disturb you, sirs. Ladies.

Onto to Ranpur, isn't it?

It's all right noW.

Isn't it, Major Peabody?

Ayah can come out, noW.

Yes, yes.

Reggie, do you think We might have some light and air? I might faint.

Only on your side. We have lot of broken glass.

It Was my side I Was thinking of.

Perhaps you'd help, Mr Perron.

I don't like that game. Is it over?

Yes, it's over.

Where's Ahmed? Is he going to appear again?

Why is Mummy crying?

We just let him go.

We all of us sat here and let him go.

- Keep them here. They musn't come out. - But I must.

- I think not. - I've got to go back for Ahmed.

There's nothing to go back for. I saW. They Were killing all the Muslims.

Hacking them to pieces.

Then I must get to a phone and ring Mirat. We can't just leave it like that.

Someone's got to go back.

They might turn on us, decide it's our fault.

Stay here. I'm going to find out What's happening.

It's all right, Major. Let Mr Perron do What he Wants. I'll stand by the door.

You'd better lock it behind us.

There's no need to lock it noW.

Stand back there, please. Give them room. Stand back. Please. Stand back.

(Peabody) Oh, my God.

I'm going to telephone Mirat.

Excuse me.

I told you before. I cannot alloW private calls.

- It's for the chief minister of Mirat. - I am trying to raise Mirat.

- Please go aWay. - It's no use, old chap.

If you get Mirat, tell them that Ahmed Kasim, son of Mohammed Ali Kasim,

must be presumed dead.

- Kasim? Kasim? Who is Kasim? - He Was travelling With us.

Why presumed dead? You Were first class. What is one man among so many?

- Let's try the station master. - He's Worse than this chap.

(Man) They smashed the shutters. There Was nothing We could do.

You knoW, We could be stuck here all day. What do We do When it gets dark?

- Savages. Absolute savages. - This is only the beginning.

Nonviolence? It makes you laugh.

- Would you like some tea? - No, thank you.

I tried to get a message through to Mirat but it's very difficult. Where's Sarah?

She's gone to see What she can do to help. I let her.

- It Was What she Wanted. - OK. Thank you.

Are you a doctor?

No. I Wish to God I Were.

Water is the problem. Some of them are dying of thirst.

The tap is just doWn there, please.

- Come on. Let me take over. - No. I'm all right doing this.

I can't do the other thing, but if you can, please do.

Have you seen Miss Layton?

She's in there, changing. The others are still in the Women's room, I suppose.

Would you like some malted milk?

- No, thank you. - There's a spare sandWich here.

- I don't Want anything. Thank you. - You ought to eat.

Especially if you're going back.

I had a Word With Bob Blake. He'll take you if you Want to go.

Who's Bob Blake?

OC Refugee Protection of the cantonment.

- Oh. - They got here a little While ago.

I told him about Kasim. He's ringing the station commander in Mirat.

He'll be here to have a Word With you presently.

There can't be much to do but you seem keen. Shall I tell Bob?

- Have you had a drink? - I offered him one. He didn't Want it.

- I meant a real drink. - I don't Want a real drink, either.

- Could I have a cigarette? - Yes. I'm sorry.

Damn.

Are you really going back?

Are you asking me not to? Do you Want help in Ranpur?

No. No, I Want to go back, too.

But I can't. I can't let Aunt Fenny cope alone.

They'll hear soon at the palace What happened to Ahmed.

Someone ought to go back to try to tell them hoW it did.

Ahmed and I, We Weren't in love. But We loved one another.

At that tap, filling those bloody jars.

I never hated myself so much as I did then.

My brave little memsahib act.

And I hated him

for not locking the door and telling us he damn Well Wasn't going to die.

I'm sure he smiled, just before he Went.

And I'm sure he said, "It seems to be me they Want."

Major Peabody said he just told him to lock the door.

But I think that's because that's What he Wanted to hear.

I'm sure he smiled.

What else could We have done?

Nothing. Nothing We could do.

It's like Daphne Manners, like Hari Kumar.

After 00 years of India,

We've made this Whole damn, bloody senseless mess.

I'm sorry, Guy.

I'm sorry, too.

Mr Perron? HoW do you do?

- Guy, this is Major Blake. - I'm going back in about 15 minutes.

- Will you be ready? - Yes. I've only got to change.

You'll be safe for the rest of the journey. I'm putting on a Whole platoon.

Thanks. I'll dig out your luggage, Guy.

Yeah, it's on the top berth.

I've been onto the station commander at Mirat.

Count BronoWsky's on his Way to Where the bodies are.

- Is there a possibility Kasim got aWay? - I don't think so.

- Peabody saW it all. - Where Were you travelling?

Just to Ranpur for the celebrations.

- Any urgency? - No, none at all.

- I'll help any Way I can to get you aWay. - Thank you.

By the Way, did you see the chalk mark?

Chalk mark?

Miss Layton noticed it.

Someone chalked a moon on the side of the carriage.

It must have been done in Mirat to shoW What carriage Kasim got into.

Yours Was the only first-class compartment they attacked.

I'll send a chap to sort out your bags and bring them over.

Thank you.

Oh. Is this yours, old chap?

Yes. Thank you.

Ah. And that?

I'll take it back With me tomorroW.

- Shall I see you again? - I don't knoW.

What is there to see?

A great deal.

'Dear Sarah. I've started this in the airport lounge on my Way home

'and probably Won't finish it before We take off.

'On Thursday, in Mirat, I talked to Dimitri.

'Before I left, he asked me to give you his love

'and then made us sit for a moment on a couch and say nothing.

'Shall I see Mirat again?

'But I thought... I thought today, in Ranpur,

'of solving once and for all the mystery of Hari Kumar - if he is a mystery.

'I Went With that little piece of paper on Which Nigel Wrote Words and numbers,

'establishing a place Where Hari might be found.

'Lt Wasn't easy. The taxi driver demanded extra money for coming to such a spot.

'The bizarre dialect Was difficult for me to understand.

'The usual beggars, the appalling smell of animal and human ordure.'

- Do you knoW this place? - Yes, I knoW this place. Come, come.

Come, sir.

Come. Up the stair.

Look here.

Kumar sahib!

- What is he saying? - He says that man has gone to Work.

Ask him When he's coming back.

This man cannot say When he's coming.

When he comes, Will you bring him this?

- Yes, sir. I bring it for your friend. - Good.

- And er... here is baksheesh for you. - No, sir. Not to Worry.

- Come. I'll shoW you taxi. - Thank you.

'But I didn't knoW, Sarah, What harm or good I'd done, have done,

'or What the boy Will tell him of a man Who came and Went,

'a visitor from another World - Perron sahib,

'one of the departing Raj Who left his card.

'On to Delhi, then, for that long-aWaited moment of independence.

'But even as the celebrations approach, the division of the spoils continues.

'The riots and the awful killings are still going on.

'All We can do, Sarah, is hope.

'Hope for the future, for the millions,

'and for India's tomorroW.

'Long years ago, We made a tryst With destiny.

'And noW the time comes When We shall redeem our fate,

'not Wholly or in full measure but very substantially.

'At the stroke of the midnight hour, When the World sleeps,

'lndia Will aWake to life and freedom.'

'Some moment comes Which comes but rarely in history

'When We step out from the old to the neW,

'When an age ends,

'and When the soul of a nation, long-suppressed, finds utterance.'

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